Figure 1

Task schematic: choice between small, certain and large, uncertain reward. Probabilistic choice task, based on similar tasks involving choice between delayed reinforcers [73, 74]. Hungry rats regularly chose between two levers. Responding on one lever led to the certain delivery of a small food reward (1 pellet); responding on the other led to a much larger food reward (4 pellets), but this reward was uncertain, and was delivered with a probability (p) ranging from 1 to 0.0625. The figure shows the format of a single trial. Trials began at regular intervals (every 40 s). Sessions consisted of 5 blocks. In each block, 16 single-lever trials were given (8 trials for each lever, randomized in pairs), to ensure the animals sampled the options available at that time; these were followed by 10 choice trials. The probability of delivery of the large reinforcer was varied systematically across the session: probabilities for each block were initially 1, 0.5, 0.25, 0.125, and 0.0625, respectively (see Table 1).